Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative

Location: Edinburgh
Technology: Solar PV
CARES funding: £500,000

Background

Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative (ECSC) grew from a straightforward idea: give people across the capital a practical way to tackle climate change by investing together in renewable energy generated in their own city.

The idea had been developing for several years. A group of local people wanted communities to have more of a say in where their energy came from – particularly in a city where so many residents live in flats and tenements and cannot simply install renewable technology at home.

Together with the City of Edinburgh Council, and with support from Energy4All, the co-operative found a practical solution: use the roofs of public buildings across the city to generate clean electricity.

In 2015, ECSC raised £1.4 million through a community share offer. The money funded solar PV arrays on 24 council buildings, including schools, leisure centres and community facilities. Residents were given first opportunity to invest, making the project genuinely owned by the community it was set up to serve.

It is a model that works for the buildings hosting the panels and for the wider community. The buildings use the electricity generated on site and any surplus goes to the grid. After operating costs and returns to members are covered, the remaining income is paid into the co-operative’s Community Fund to support projects across Edinburgh.

Since then, the project has kept growing. A second share offer in 2020 raised enough money to add six more installations across the city.

Project aims

ECSC is now working on its third – and biggest – phase, growing Edinburgh’s network of community-owned solar generation even further.

The latest project is worth around £2 million and will bring solar PV to another group of buildings across the city, including high-energy users such as the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

Local Energy Scotland, which manages the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) on behalf of the Scottish Government, has been there to support the co-operative throughout its journey.

In the first phase, CARES funding was essential. It covered development costs that had to be paid before the community share offer could launch, including technical design work and grid connection applications for several buildings.

Jim Lee of Energy4All, who has been closely involved in the project, said: “In phase one, the funding was crucial. Without it, it’s difficult to imagine where we would have gone.”

The level of support has grown with the project. For this latest phase, around £500,000 of Scottish Government funding is helping to meet development and capital costs, while the community energy model is raising approximately £1.5 million.

Outcomes

Over the past decade, ECSC has shown what community ownership can achieve for local buildings, for the environment and for people across Edinburgh.

Its panels generate renewable electricity for schools, leisure centres, community facilities and other public buildings, meaning those organisations need to buy less power from the grid.

The long-term agreement with the City of Edinburgh Council has delivered real savings too. Figures reported to the council’s finance committee showed that, from the start of the project to the end of December 2024, the council had saved £554,860.30 in energy costs.

The environmental difference is just as important. In its first 10 years, the co-operative generated more than 11 million kWh of renewable electricity and cut estimated CO₂ emissions by more than 2,000 tonnes.

And the impact does not stop at energy generation. Once operating costs and member returns have been paid, surplus income goes back into projects across Edinburgh. Typically, £20,000 to £30,000 has been available each year for work ranging from active travel initiatives to wider community and environmental projects.

The latest expansion could put even more back into local communities. Bigger installations on high-use buildings, including the Royal Commonwealth Pool, can create greater savings and income while helping public buildings reduce their carbon emissions.

Lessons learned

ECSC has shown that community ambition goes much further when it has the right specialist support behind it.

The co-operative is led by a board whose members contribute valuable professional skills and experience, mostly on a voluntary basis. Energy4All brings the day-to-day expertise needed to manage administration, finance and project development.

Renewable energy projects can run up significant costs long before construction begins, from technical designs and grid connection applications to feasibility work. For a community organisation without large reserves, having to take on those costs at its own risk could bring an otherwise viable project to a halt.

CARES support helped ECSC overcome that hurdle in its first phase and has continued to help as the project has grown.

The project is also a reminder that community energy takes time. Planning, grid connections, procurement, building requirements and the need to coordinate several partners can all shape the timetable.

But as the portfolio grows, so does the opportunity: more clean energy, lower energy costs for public services and more money flowing back into communities across Edinburgh.